Are the Linden Lab Layoffs a Good Sign?

I wrote about Linden Lab laying off 30% of staff here: Linden Lab Layoffs. I wrote that in the next few days we would see more information coming from those with an inside line to Linden Lab (LL). New World Notes (NWN) and Massively are following the layoff story and speculating. NWN’s Au is digging out more facts. I think my favorite SL blogger, Gwyneth Llewelyn, in [Reset] and do a 180º turn gives a vastly different insight than many headlines in the SL-blogosphere suggest.

As usual predicting the future is speculation. However, what Linden Lab is planning is not speculation. Whether they actually get it done… But, a direction is a direction and that can give us perspective. Gwyn’s writing gives us a new insight.

Read more

Emerald Viewer Build 2100

Emerald Viewer 2100
Grid Setting for OSGrid

Wow… a few days of RL work and I’m left behind. Emerald has a new beta release out. Yay! Build 2100 is out.

The exporter has been improved and is not supposed to crash. I’ll have to try it and see how it works. I have original builds in SL that I would like to move to OSGrid. I’ve also made some stuff in OSGrid that I would like to bring into SL. You will find it in the pie menu, right-click an object and click MORE until you see EXPORT. It exports an XML file. Textures are loaded into a folder. Of course you have to be the owner of all parts and textures for it to work. I didn’t push the limits, but in general it seems to work.

Read more

Emerald Viewer Update 2047

Another beta version was released May 31. I’m just seeing it. They are much better about posting their change logs over at Modular Systems.

One interesting change is the inclusion of negative chat channels… for those of us that deal with HUD’s and other scripted items that must communicate, this should make testing easier. If it allows me to select negative channels to listen to… that could recreate problems for those writing combat meters. I can instantly think of ways to easy create problems for a couple of the meters I use. I’ll have to look at that.

Read more

Emerald Viewer 2012 Beta Released.

Emerald Viewer 2012
New Emerald Graphics Page

Today Modular is announcing the release of a new Emerald Viewer Beta version. Yay!!! \o/

5/30 – Emerald Beta build 2028 is out. I don’t see a date or any new information at Modular. The Google wiki is not up to date. So, I’ll have to dig through the forums to find any new news.

They are warning this is an unsupported version. Plus it has known bugs… like which viewer doesn’t? So, this is bleeding edge technology. But, it has some nice new stuff.

Some of the new features are undocumented. What is a Growl Notification? Update: I found out what Growl is. It is a tool for getting notifications from SL while you are doing something else. It is a downloaded app. See Growl for Windows.

There is a new graphics setting page in the Preferences’ Emerald tab. (Page 2 – Graphics). There are new settings there. Fast Alpha has some problems. Check the image for the new page.

Read more

Second Life Viewers

Naali Viewer
Naali on Nokia N900

I’m starting to see those creating third party viewers dividing into separate groups. One group is those developing primarily for Second Life (SL) and supporting OpenSim grids as a secondary consideration. Another group is the developers primarily supporting OpenSim grids with SL as a secondary consideration.

I think the Imprudence Viewer Team is leading the way in the second group. Jacek Antonelli posted about their decision to begin having in world meetings in the 3rd Rock Grid (3RG) rather than in SL. So, this isn’t war of the worlds. It is reported to be about finding a ‘viewer’ developer friendly grid.  

Read more